London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Edmonton 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Edmonton]
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LEFT EYE.
| Age. | Keen Vision. 6/5 | Normal Vision. 6/6 | Fair. | Bad. | Very Bad. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/9 | 6/12 | 6/18 | 6/24 | 6/36 | 6/60 | Worse than 6/60 | |||
| Boys— | |||||||||
| 9—10 | 4 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10—11 | 248 | 59 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 4 | 5 | |
| 11—13 | 10 | 10 | 4 | — | 2 | 3 | - | — | - |
| 13 and over | 339 | 151 | 60 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 9 | 6 |
| Total | 580 | 418 | 123 | 33 | 34 | 42 | 39 | 13 | 11 |
| Per cent. | 44.8 | 32.4 | 9.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Girls— | |||||||||
| 9—10 | 3 | 10 | 4 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 10—11 | 100 | 199 | 60 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| 11—13 | 5 | 6 | 3 | - | - | — | - | - | - |
| 13—14 | 183 | 163 | 58 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 8 | 8 |
| Total | 291 | 378 | 125 | 25 | 27 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 16 |
| Per cent. | 30.8 | 40.0 | 13.2 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
In order that the vision at the two ages of ten and thirteen, and that
of the boys' and girls' may be compared, the following percentage table is
given. The vision is divided into four classes.
TABLE XXXII.
| RIGHT EYE. | LEFT EYE. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision Age. | Good. 6/5 6/6 | Fair. 6/8 6/12 | Bad. 6/18 6/24 | Very bad. 6/36/- | Good. 6/5 6/6 | Fair. 6/9 6/12 | Bad. 6/18 6/24 | Very bad. 6/36/- |
| Boys— | ||||||||
| 10—11 | 78.2 | 12.9 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 78.1 | 12.3 | 5.0 | 4.6 |
| 13—14 | 77.4 | 11.6 | 6.8 | 4.3 | 76.3 | 12.2 | 6.2 | 5.4 |
| Girls— | ||||||||
| 10—11 | 71.9 | 16.4 | 7.3 | 4.4 | 70.1 | 16.1 | 7.3 | 6.4 |
| 13—14 | 74.0 | 14.0 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 71.1 | 15.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 |
We see that the eyesight of the boys is better than that of the girls,
and referring to the first table, we see that the proportion of boys with
keen vision is very much larger than that of the girls. The sight of the
right eye is a little better than that of the left, but there is not very much
to choose between the two eyes. As regards the influence of age, the sight
of the boys of 13 is a little worse than that of the boys of 10, while, on
the other hand, the girls of 13 have better vision than the girls of 10.
These figures give no support to the supposition that school influences are
responsible for defective eyesight. Needlework is often held responsible
for bad eyesight in girls, and it is true that girls have not such good